Mixing teas

Hi! I’m just wondering, when you mix two different kinds of tea leaves and they have different normal steeping times, how do you decide how long to steep them for? Also if it’s like, a green tea and a black tea or something, what about water temperature?
Also, do you guys mix teas a lot? I’m just starting to get into it.

I have yet to mix say a green with a black. Most of the teas I’ve had that are mixed (not by me) are whites and greens, or blacks and puers. Typically teas whose temp/steep time are close to one another.

You may not like my reply but here goes. I am a tea bag drinker of mainly green teas. With most teas I have sampled (loose leaf teas) and bags I usually after five or so steeps/infusion end it with placing a teabag to liven the water so that I am not just drinking diluted water.

And most teas have held up to this weirdness of mine. I generally purchase the teas as is. I don’t think to mixing teas; I only add the teabag when the flavor has run out.

Think of this as chain-smoking; one cigarette right to very tip and while there is still a glow, you take another cigarette and use that to start that one and so on…, I have never smoked but have seen smokers do this. Always fascinates me how they do this.

In my rambling; my belief is you buy a tea and it should be drunken as is, to truly represent the distributor or seller/merchant of the teas. If you are mixing, than get a license and do your own.

I mix and blend teas all the time – and this is a good question, one I pondered myself for a while last year.

I actually steep the leaves for the smallest amount of time. So if you’re mixing green and black teas, steep for the green tea length. Most black teas are hearty, and may overpower the green tea flavor anyway.

Same thing for herbals and white teas, which I love to pair. I steep for the herbal length so I don’t oversteep and scald the white tea leaves.

My experience has been to Steep for the lesser time between the two that you are blending.
green + black=brew for green
white+ black=brew for white
herbal + black=brew for black
hope this helps!
remember to Keep calm and drink tea:)

I haven’t blended mates, but the general rule is to steep to the lowest required temp/time, so you would steep according to the parameters of green if it was a mate/green mix, white if it was mate/white, and so on. In general, I find herbals, mate and blacks to all be okay with boiling water so those would be relatively easy.

on lunch I blended an organic mate with green mint tea… I’m insanely overtired and that leads to an upset stomach for me, so I thought I might be able to kill two birds with one stone… tastes pretty good, just a hint of mint and not at all bitter or too earthy.

I regularly mix black tea and green tea as I like a strong and bitter tea for relaxing. However, after a meal, I like to drink a sweeter tea mixed with a spicier tea for digestion. Maybe I’m doing it wrong, however, I feel it’s all about the flavor. It took awhile to come up with a few satisfying concoctions, but it can be done. :3

I’ve heard different opinions. If mixing black+green, for example, I’ve heard some people steeping the black for 2 minutes and then adding the green in for 1 minute, or I’ve heard of steeping them both for 1 minute. Just depends.

I’ve got a few personal blends – a favorite is a jasmine silver needle with rose and lavender and some other herbals as well, or an iced maté with spearmint and honey… just takes some practice.

I managed to blend one once – it was when I was working on a coconut blend – that tasted like kalamata olives. Not good.